As the size of semiconductor devices has continued to shrink and circuit densities have increased accordingly, the thermal management of these devices has become more challenging. This problem is expected to worsen in the foreseeable future.
In the past, the thermal management of semiconductor devices and the equipment that incorporates them was often addressed through the use of forced convective air cooling, either alone or in conjunction with various heat sink devices, and was accomplished through the use of fans. However, fan-based cooling systems were found to be undesirable due to the electromagnetic interference and acoustical footprint attendant to their use. Moreover, the use of fans requires relatively large moving parts, and correspondingly high power inputs, in order to achieve the desired level of heat transfer.
More recently, thermal management systems have been developed which utilize synthetic jet ejectors. These systems are more energy efficient than comparable fan-based systems, and also offer reduced levels of noise and electromagnetic interference. Systems of this type are described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,497 (Glezer et al.).
While thermal management systems which utilize synthetic jet ejectors have a number of advantages over other types of thermal management systems, further improvements in these systems are required to more fully leverage the synthetic jet ejector technology. Some of these improvements are realized in the devices, methodologies and systems disclosed herein.